Sustainable conservation: linking conservation students and graduates with local communities to build a sustainable skills-based heritage preservation model in rural and regional Australia

Abstract

In 2017 the AICCM received a Community Heritage – Peak Organisations grant from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. With funding for two years the AICCM and its project partners, Bathurst Regional Council and the Grimwade Centre at the University of Melbourne, trialled a new locally-led model of community conservation which links conservation students and graduates with local communities in rural and regional Australia. This paper reviews the outcomes of the programme in terms of its ability to demonstrate how, with appropriate support, the promotion and preservation of local cultural heritage can inspire community programmes, provide novel loci for educational activities, generate social and economic benefits, and demonstrate regional leadership. Initial findings indicate that the project provides a demonstration model for an expanded national conservation program to begin to address one of the key, but as yet under-examined, recommendations of the 1975 Pigott Report.

Keywords:

• Cultural materials conservation
• National conservation program
• Community engagement
• Conservation policy
• Fields of Research (FOR) Classification: 210202 Heritage & Cultural Studies
• 210203 Materials Conservation
• 210204 Museum Studies
• 160502 Arts & Cultural Policy

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to especially thank the regional partners in this project, the AICCM National Council and Secretariat, and the Grimwade Centre staff, students, and alumni who contributed to the success of this project.

We are very grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their carefully considered suggestions and positive comments.

Author biographies

Marcelle Scott is a Research Fellow at the Grimwade Centre, University of Melbourne, where her research focusses on conservation theory, ethics and pedagogy. She is a recipient of the AICCM Medal, Professional Member of the AICCM, and Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC).

Jennifer O’Connell is the Senior Conservator (Painting) at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG), an AICCM Professional Member, and President of the AICCM. Jennifer graduated with an MA (Cultural Materials Conservation) from the University of Melbourne in 2011 and has since worked in both private practice and government institutions.

Notes

1 While widely referred to and cited as the ‘Pigott Report’, after the Committee Chairman, Peter H. Pigott, as a government report it would most correctly be cited as (Museums in Australia 1975), however this leads to confusion when also citing the date of events associated with the inquiry. Hence, following Griffin and Paroissien eds (2011) the report is cited as (Pigott 1975) throughout this paper. Similarly, the 1974 Report of the National Estate: report of the Committee of Inquiry into the National Estate is referred to in this paper as (Hope 1974) after its Chair, Robert M. Hope.

Additional information

Funding

The projects described were funded by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and the Heritage Council of NSW, with further support from the University of Melbourne’s Student Services Amenity Fee funds, the Willem Snoek Conservation Award, and The Copland Foundation.

Elements of this paper were presented at the 2019 AICCM National Conference Making Conservation, Melbourne, 13–15 November 2019.